Organizing Receipts {the simple way}

With the holidays right around the corner, I thought I would share a very simple way of organizing your receipts.

It can be so frustrating hunting for the one receipt you need. How many of us have spent hours looking everywhere but in the fridge trying to recoop the one receipt you need?

Well...not anymore! Of course you will need to take a moment and file it, but it will be worth the few minutes you take when you know exactly where to find it.

I used to file receipts according to who the item belonged to. Let me tell ya, that does NOT work when you bought two different things for two different people at the same store. I know. I am very slow, but it took me forever and a day to figure it out.

SOOOOOOO...I bought white CATALOG ENVELOPES, not too big and not too small. Each store that we buy from on a regular basis has its own FILING TAB marked with the store name.





For example: TARGET has its own envelope. Everything we buy from Target goes into that envelope.





All CATALOG ENVELOPES are placed into the MAIN file labeled RECEIPTS. I have a "to file" section on my desk and that is where the receipts are put until they drive me crazy and I take the time to file them. It only takes a few minutes and it is so nice to know where to find what you need. It is especially great for GIFTS. Not just at Christmas-time, but year-round.

I always ask for the gift receipt and include it with the gift, but you have no idea how many times it gets lost and YOU have the back-up! YAY!!!

I bought FILING TABS that are really tough and they can easily be repositioned.{POST IT...from Staples in the filing section}







Since I can hardly read my own writing, and I love a clean and simple look, I used my very very very very favorite label maker with a small font to label each tab.





That is it! And by the way, if you are using smaller envelopes there is NO WAY one can stash receipts that expired in 2005!


***WHAT ABOUT STORES YOU RARELY PURCHASE FROM? Each family member has their own envelope for this. For example: Rarely do I shop at Nordstrom...but once in awhile I do, so, I would file that under "LISA".

Hope this makes more sense to you than it does to me. TUTORIALS are not my thing.

Happy Organizing! You will feel oh.so.domesticated once your receipts are organized. Just think of all the extra time you will have to do other things...like LAUNDRY and carpool!

Idea shared with: Organize with Sandy